Kansas coach Bill Self, center, thought he needed to change Andrew Wiggins at one point this season. Then he realized that was far from the case. / Denny Medley, USA TODAY Sports

by Eric Prisbell, USA TODAY Sports

by Eric Prisbell, USA TODAY Sports

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - He failed to be the front-runner for national player of the year honors. He failed to average 20 points, much less lead the nation in scoring. And he may not even be the most coveted NBA prospect on his team, much less in June's NBA draft.

All Andrew Wiggins has managed to do as a freshman is average a team-high 17.4 points and 6 rebounds for a Kansas team that won the regular season title in the strongest Big 12 Conference in a decade. All he has done is establish himself as the best defender on a team likely to earn a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament.

After turning 19 just last month, all he has done is author a fantastic freshman season. It is a freshman season that serves as a resounding indictment of hype.

Every minute of his freshman season has been examined and dissected. Before he stepped foot on a college campus he was wrongly compared with another touted high school talent from a decade ago, LeBron James, even though there are few similarities in their games or personalities.

In his college debut, Wiggins finished with 16 points. A USA TODAY Sports headline that night read "Andrew Wiggins was solid in his debut, but hardly LeBron James."

Throughout this season, Wiggins has been called everything from a "disappointment" to "underwhelming."

"I feel for Wiggins every day," SMU coach Larry Brown said. "You hear one game, 'Oh, he's the first pick.' Then the next game, 'Oh, I'm so disappointed.' That stuff drives me crazy. He's a 19-year-old freshman. He is a special kid."

Unlike former stellar freshmen such as Allen Iverson or Kevin Durant, Wiggins' first college season has played out in the age of Twitter, where every crossover dribble or turnover is illuminated, exaggerated and scrutinized instantaneously and often erroneously in a twitter-verse devoid of much perspective.

Before the season, some fans and media expected him to live up to a standard that Wiggins did not establish. His narrative was scripted for him, rather than his unassuming personality and performances dictating it. Media and fans tried to put him in a box that he never fit.

He didn't possess the transcendent all-around skill set of James. And he was never going to score with the ease and consistency of Durant. Kansas coach Bill Self knew that Wiggins could not possibly amass statistics that would satisfy many fans or columnists.

Based on his performances and personality while he was at Huntington (W.Va.) Prep, you could make the case that he has actually overachieved as a freshman.

After being asked about Wiggins "turning it on" late this season, former Kansas great Danny Manning told USA TODAY Sports, "He's averaging 17 points per game. What do you mean turn it on? He's averaging 17 points on one of the best teams in the country. There's a lot of balance here."

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At Huntington Prep, Wiggins virtually recoiled from national attention. He wanted to be a kid. He didn't even know, or care to know, all the schools seriously recruiting him until midway through the fall of his final season. He looked up to other players, such as Durant and Derrick Rose, who did not yearn for adulation.

For those who watched him in high school and on the AAU summer circuit, his freshman season has been everything they envisioned, probably a little bit better. He has had a tendency to blend in at times. He could still tighten up his ball-handling. But he possesses a good jump shot and freakish athleticism that is bound to leave even veteran basketball observers slack-jawed a couple times each game.

"He doesn't get to come out and shoot the ball whenever he wants to," said Manning, whose Tulsa team earned an automatic NCAA bid Saturday. "That's not what Kansas is about. He's doing a great job blending his skill set into what they are trying to do as a team. He makes plays that are astounding from time to time because of his athletic ability and feel for the game."

One of the biggest questions about Wiggins entering college was whether he would exhibit the assertiveness or killer instinct to try to take over games consistently against both elite and inferior competition.

In high school, on occasion he showed that potential. After a critical Sports Illustrated story in February 2013, Wiggins erupted for 57 points against an overwhelmed opponent. At the 2012 Nike Peach Jam tournament, he outplayed Julius Randle in a highly anticipated matchup, fueled by the chance to cement himself as the nation's best high school player. And he was disappointed that he could not make the same point against Jabari Parker, who missed the tournament because he was injured.

But there were other times when Huntington Prep coaches tried various ways to motivate him, because he could appear complacent against competition that was beneath him. Brown watched Wiggins play at Huntington Prep and said, "You'd look at him and say, 'Wow.' You and I could have sat there and said he is going to be a potential No. 1 pick. But that is not his personality."

At times Self has tried to motivate him by trying to push the right buttons to make Wiggins a little angry in practice or games. But Wiggins could never stay angry. It's not his demeanor.

Self said he initially thought that the staff needed to change Wiggins. Coaches wanted him more "outwardly, visibly more energetic and passionate because he is a stone face on the court," Self said.

"That would have been the worst thing we could have ever done," Self said before the Big 12 tournament. "His demeanor has allowed him not to have highs and not to have lows. He has had a few highs, but his lows have not been low. His consistency, to me, has been most remarkable."

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One game after scoring 41 points in the regular-season finale, a loss, at West Virginia, Wiggins scored 30 points in Kansas' 77-70 overtime victory over Oklahoma State in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals.

In an interview with USA TODAY Sports before the season, Oklahoma State's Marcus Smart didn't question Wiggins' ability as much as he questioned the hype. Smart noted that he had won more games in Allen Fieldhouse than Wiggins, who had yet to play a college game. After his third matchup with Wiggins this season, Smart was asked again about the most heavily touted high school prospect in a decade.

"They said he was the best player â?¦ he had to earn that," Smart said. "He came out as a freshman and took a slow bit to get used to it. He got used to it and he is doing what he is supposed to be doing for his team. He is leading his team. He led his team to a Big 12 championship."

When Kansas lost at Oklahoma State on March 1, Perry Jones was among the Oklahoma City Thunder players at Gallagher-Iba Arena. Jones can relate to Wiggins in that Jones was a highly touted high school prospect â?? though not nearly as much as Wiggins â?? who faced criticism for not living up to expectations at Baylor.

"The advice I would give him is just be aggressive," Jones said. "If you make mistakes being aggressive, it's all good. He has so much athleticism. If he dunks the ball one time, people move out of the way for him. He is legit."

Wiggins said this week that he has managed to deal with the hype and continue to develop on the court because he is eager to learn from his coaches. "I know you never know too much," he said.

Wiggins has come a long way since appearing on an October Sports Illustrated cover in the middle of images of former Kansas greats Wilt Chamberlain and Manning.

"I don't know how anyone could be compared to Chamberlain," Brown said. "They never compared Danny to Wilt. They just let Danny grow and become who he was."

During a stellar freshman season, Wiggins has grown. And in what is expected to be his first and only NCAA tournament appearance, Wiggins now has a chance to write a memorable final chapter of his college career.